What do you think?
Rate this book
Sharon McCone #18
While Other People Sleep
San Francisco P.I. Sharon McCone suffers as an imposter takes over her credit cards and even her home, but when she is framed for a murder she did not commit, Sharon pulls out all the stops to find the woman responsible. 40,000 first printing.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1998
62 people are currently reading
434 people want to read
About the author
Marcia Muller
165 books725 followersMarcia Muller is an American author of mystery and thriller novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
March 31, 2023
“The hours while other people sleep are the longest for me, and the most uneasy. All that’s familiar adopts a vaguely menacing disguise, and the landscape of my life alters. Demons walk beside me, in the form of old regrets and guilts. I’m cut off from those I love. Whether at home and plagued by insomnia or on a long surveillance, I watch the clock and will its hands to move more swiftly towards the time when the darkness will lift and life will once again return to the safe and mundane. But the hands creep slowly and I’m forced to face what I keep hidden inside”
It always seems to be when everything’s going great that it all starts to fall apart. And this is what happens to Sharon McCone in While Other People Sleep, the 18th book in the series that is really getting legs now. The agency is thriving, her relationship with Hy is strong, the recent dramas within her family are beginning to fade…but it appears someone is out there passing herself off as Sharon McCone.
Someone is using Sharon McCone’s identity to be, at first, an annoyance, then a severe irritation and,ultimately, to make her life a misery. It starts off as a little annoying, using her business card and providing advice, but it soon starts to grow out of control until it becomes a dangerous impediment to her way of life.
Meanwhile, Ted and Neal’s relationship is being ripped apart with neither trusting the other and Neal going to the extreme of asking McCone to follow his partner. Not only are these two valuable members of her staff but they are also long-time friends of hers. Staking out Ted does not sit easy with her at all.
And the constant source of upset for McCone is the fact that Hy has gone to South America for a job and is incommunicado. This places increasing pressure on McCone, particularly with the identity thief ramping up their mischief.
The busy life of the private investigator, particularly one who owns and runs a thriving practice, is admirably portrayed here. Into that we find the day to day smaller jobs having to be managed while a much larger issue, that of identity theft, is being dealt with. Weirdly, McCone initially decides to hide the fact that someone is posing as her all over town. But once she admits to her fate and calls on others to help, the main thrust of the story, and thus, the pace of the book quickly builds to reach a satisfying conclusion.
For what appears to be a reasonably straightforward mystery, getting to the crux of the matter and finding a reasonable solution seemed to take quite a long time. Deducting the problem and dealing with the solution appeared to be somewhat beyond McCone’s capabilities which felt a little strange for someone with her experience (18th book in the series, remember).
The result ended up being a case that felt as though it dragged on a little longer than it should have. Add to that, my trust in McCone’s investigative skills have also taken a hit. Hopefully this was just an aberration and she pulls herself together for the next outing.
It always seems to be when everything’s going great that it all starts to fall apart. And this is what happens to Sharon McCone in While Other People Sleep, the 18th book in the series that is really getting legs now. The agency is thriving, her relationship with Hy is strong, the recent dramas within her family are beginning to fade…but it appears someone is out there passing herself off as Sharon McCone.
Someone is using Sharon McCone’s identity to be, at first, an annoyance, then a severe irritation and,ultimately, to make her life a misery. It starts off as a little annoying, using her business card and providing advice, but it soon starts to grow out of control until it becomes a dangerous impediment to her way of life.
Meanwhile, Ted and Neal’s relationship is being ripped apart with neither trusting the other and Neal going to the extreme of asking McCone to follow his partner. Not only are these two valuable members of her staff but they are also long-time friends of hers. Staking out Ted does not sit easy with her at all.
And the constant source of upset for McCone is the fact that Hy has gone to South America for a job and is incommunicado. This places increasing pressure on McCone, particularly with the identity thief ramping up their mischief.
The busy life of the private investigator, particularly one who owns and runs a thriving practice, is admirably portrayed here. Into that we find the day to day smaller jobs having to be managed while a much larger issue, that of identity theft, is being dealt with. Weirdly, McCone initially decides to hide the fact that someone is posing as her all over town. But once she admits to her fate and calls on others to help, the main thrust of the story, and thus, the pace of the book quickly builds to reach a satisfying conclusion.
For what appears to be a reasonably straightforward mystery, getting to the crux of the matter and finding a reasonable solution seemed to take quite a long time. Deducting the problem and dealing with the solution appeared to be somewhat beyond McCone’s capabilities which felt a little strange for someone with her experience (18th book in the series, remember).
The result ended up being a case that felt as though it dragged on a little longer than it should have. Add to that, my trust in McCone’s investigative skills have also taken a hit. Hopefully this was just an aberration and she pulls herself together for the next outing.
August 29, 2020
Private investigator Sharon McCone has a copycat following her every move and while her boyfriend is negotiating a secret, and potentially deadly, hostage negotiation. It makes for tight knit thriller in which McCone has to settle her own dark instincts to gain the upper hand over her adversary as well as her own inner demons.
Meanwhile, McCone is also running her own agency and has cases that she must focus on, as well as her own. This is a rocking roller-coaster of a read and the first one where I really got sucked into the story and stayed with it, without any of the usual quirks that set my teeth on edge when I started this series. Marcia Muller has, in my opinion, matured and created a main character that interests and maintains the readers attention.
Meanwhile, McCone is also running her own agency and has cases that she must focus on, as well as her own. This is a rocking roller-coaster of a read and the first one where I really got sucked into the story and stayed with it, without any of the usual quirks that set my teeth on edge when I started this series. Marcia Muller has, in my opinion, matured and created a main character that interests and maintains the readers attention.
June 6, 2020
The first half felt too scattershot to me. Muller has Sharon spread thin with her Identity Thief, Ted's and Neal's problems, and two separate cases that Mick and Charlotte are working on. Not to mention her worry about Hy being incommunicado in South America. It wasn't until Sharon loops in her friends and colleagues about her troubles that the story came into focus for me and the second half is a pretty good cat-and-mouse chase. This read like Muller didn't have enough to oomph up the main mystery so tacked on some filler to beef up the word count. I enjoyed the return visit with the characters, but not a highlight in the series for me.
November 30, 2010
This continues to be an excellent series, and I found this one to be the best yet!! Her side characters are rich, and as per usual, the story quickly picks up the pace as it rolls along, one event sequencing smoothly into the next. At first, I found the plot unrealistic, as Sharon is a top-notch investigator, and what would be the problem in solving this one in a timely manner, and how could an identity thief/stalker get the best of her? But, Marcia Muller clearly unfolds the scenario, showing the reasons in great detail, exploring the issues of stalking and the powerlessness it can give even a smart, strong individual. She does not fold, however, although her frustration mounts as the clever stalker learns to almost read her mind. There is also a side story centered around Ted, one of her employees. Ted is acting strangely and chooses not to confide his problem to anyone. Although I had the problem figured out about half way in, I still found it interesting.
A great story, and well worth the read, especially if you like this series.
A great story, and well worth the read, especially if you like this series.
May 11, 2021
Things are going well for San Francisco-based detective Sharon McCone when she first hears the news. Her agency is buzzing along and she just hired a new investigator she has high hopes for. She and her partner, Hy, are doing well in her personal life. She isn't caught up in any high risk cases. All in all, things are great.
Then she hears from a friend that someone was impersonating her at a galley opening. The woman had a business card, in fact, one of Sharon's business cards, and was passing herself off as Sharon. She looked much like Sharon although younger. Although it gives her a moment of unease, Sharon decides to shrug it off as someone using her credentials to get in someone they might not otherwise be able to enter.
But it doesn't stop there. Sharon starts to get more reports of the woman who has apparently decided to pass herself off as Sharon all over. This is concerning. It can impact the business, especially when Sharon starts to hear from men the imposter is picking up, sleeping with and convincing that they have slept with Sharon herself. One of her staff has started acting strangely so much that their partner asks Sharon to look into it. The woman impersonator starts leaving gifts around, showing up in the private parts of Sharon's life such as the airport where she and Hy keep their plane, and soon it's obvious the woman has broken into both the office and Sharon's home. She orders things using Sharon's credit cards then cancels them. What is her purpose? How can Sharon find her before she does something worse?
This is the eighteenth novel in the Sharon McCone series. Readers of the series will be happy to encounter so many of the same characters from the earlier novels while those reading this as a stand alone will find enough material given that they don't feel lost. The tension is slowly cranked up until a confrontation occurs that brings everything to a head. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
Then she hears from a friend that someone was impersonating her at a galley opening. The woman had a business card, in fact, one of Sharon's business cards, and was passing herself off as Sharon. She looked much like Sharon although younger. Although it gives her a moment of unease, Sharon decides to shrug it off as someone using her credentials to get in someone they might not otherwise be able to enter.
But it doesn't stop there. Sharon starts to get more reports of the woman who has apparently decided to pass herself off as Sharon all over. This is concerning. It can impact the business, especially when Sharon starts to hear from men the imposter is picking up, sleeping with and convincing that they have slept with Sharon herself. One of her staff has started acting strangely so much that their partner asks Sharon to look into it. The woman impersonator starts leaving gifts around, showing up in the private parts of Sharon's life such as the airport where she and Hy keep their plane, and soon it's obvious the woman has broken into both the office and Sharon's home. She orders things using Sharon's credit cards then cancels them. What is her purpose? How can Sharon find her before she does something worse?
This is the eighteenth novel in the Sharon McCone series. Readers of the series will be happy to encounter so many of the same characters from the earlier novels while those reading this as a stand alone will find enough material given that they don't feel lost. The tension is slowly cranked up until a confrontation occurs that brings everything to a head. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
December 25, 2024
Some walking puke pile attempted to defraud me during the COVID-19 pandemic by collecting unemployment benefits in my name. Fortunately, my employer caught the situation, no one benefitted from the illegal payout, and I danced through innumerable hoops to restore my name and credit. Significant numbers of those who read this review will be able to relate to the experience of identity theft. But what was identity theft like before the Internet? Read this to find out.
Someone is systematically stealing Sharon McCone’s identity, and she can’t figure out who it is or what the motive is. He or she is buying things with McCone's credit cards; the perpetrator even claims to be her while sleeping with a variety of men in San Francisco. The creep is calling McCone's aging father and claiming to be her, insisting that someone shot her.
With her credit in shambles, her boss in some kind of snit no one can figure out, and her lover on a secretive mission for work in South America, Sharon has had it. She must work hard to push back the blinding, unthinking rage and try to outthink her defrauder.
This is every bit as good as the book’s scenario indicates it will be. This is one of the strongest entries in the series so far. Muller writes this well enough that your guts will tighten as you watch Sharon’s life methodically disintegrate while she either helplessly looks on or reacts to the prairie fire rather than think proactively. If someone has ever defrauded you or attempted to do so, you’re going to have a visceral moment with this book because it will feel so familiar. The plot and writing style will keep you engaged to the back page, and there’s a suspenseful part near the end that involves an airplane that will have you leaning forward for sure.
Someone is systematically stealing Sharon McCone’s identity, and she can’t figure out who it is or what the motive is. He or she is buying things with McCone's credit cards; the perpetrator even claims to be her while sleeping with a variety of men in San Francisco. The creep is calling McCone's aging father and claiming to be her, insisting that someone shot her.
With her credit in shambles, her boss in some kind of snit no one can figure out, and her lover on a secretive mission for work in South America, Sharon has had it. She must work hard to push back the blinding, unthinking rage and try to outthink her defrauder.
This is every bit as good as the book’s scenario indicates it will be. This is one of the strongest entries in the series so far. Muller writes this well enough that your guts will tighten as you watch Sharon’s life methodically disintegrate while she either helplessly looks on or reacts to the prairie fire rather than think proactively. If someone has ever defrauded you or attempted to do so, you’re going to have a visceral moment with this book because it will feel so familiar. The plot and writing style will keep you engaged to the back page, and there’s a suspenseful part near the end that involves an airplane that will have you leaning forward for sure.
April 29, 2021
Someone has stolen Sharon's identity, running up credit card bills, impersonating her in public, and breaking into her home. We are drawn into the mystery because of the diabolical nature of the impersonator who is as skilled as a CIA operative in bugging her home, finding information about her, and ruining her reputation. Sharon uses her own detective skills to uncover the impersonator half way through the book. The second half of the book is about what Sharon does to find out why the thief is doing it, to locate her, and to bring her in, which she does. But the climax falls flat. The thief is in the air in a stolen airplane, and Sharon talks her down in the middle of a storm, but the plane goes out of control as soon as it lands. The thief is hurt with non-life-threatening injuries. What I just described is how the author described the crash. There was nothing about how panicked the thief was in the air, what actually happened during the landing, and how all the injuries occurred. I was very disappointed because the author is usually terrific in climactic endings, but this was was a dud. Could have been 5 stars with a better ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 17, 2017
Someone out there is pretending to be PI Sharon McCone...attempting to look like her, handing out business cards, and doing dishonest deeds...all in Sharon's name. But who? And why? At first it seems like a silly game, but when things escalate to hijacking her credit cards, hacking into her voicemail system and deleting messages, ordering thousands of dollars of work to be done on her home, McCone goes into "fight back" mode and gets her whole team in on the case. All this while she's working on a case for her office manager's partner and worrying about her significant other, Hy Ripinsky, who is in South American somewhere working on a touchy international kidnapping case and is currently incommunicado.
Fast paced, and as usual with a little of the 'unbelievable' about it, it's always good to visit Sharon and her circle of friends and family in San Francisco.
Fast paced, and as usual with a little of the 'unbelievable' about it, it's always good to visit Sharon and her circle of friends and family in San Francisco.
March 27, 2017
This was unnerving, chilling, and creepy in a way that I enjoyed.
Someone has been pretending to be Sharon around town, who looks somewhat like Sharon from a distance. Sharon is first told by a friend who encountered the other woman at a cocktail party with a name tag identifying her as Sharon, pretending to be Sharon in conversation. Later, an art dealer contacts Sharon and is confused when Sharon is not the woman he met before - and slept with.
As well, something is going on with Ted.
Very convoluted, as Sharon tries to discover who the other woman is - and what she wants. Stalking, homophobia, obsession all rear heads to a climatic finish.
Someone has been pretending to be Sharon around town, who looks somewhat like Sharon from a distance. Sharon is first told by a friend who encountered the other woman at a cocktail party with a name tag identifying her as Sharon, pretending to be Sharon in conversation. Later, an art dealer contacts Sharon and is confused when Sharon is not the woman he met before - and slept with.
As well, something is going on with Ted.
Very convoluted, as Sharon tries to discover who the other woman is - and what she wants. Stalking, homophobia, obsession all rear heads to a climatic finish.
August 7, 2017
Muller's newest mystery strikes closer to home than most, as both Sharon and Ted are harassed (and Hy is perhaps in danger as well). Putting aside the unlikeliness of the simultaneous yet unconnected attacks, the plotline is well laid out and provides for strong characterization.
Unfortunately, the story of Sharon's stalker drags on too long, and too much of it is about how the stalker is one step ahead of Sharon, which gets old quickly.
So, a good setup, but it overstays its welcome.
Unfortunately, the story of Sharon's stalker drags on too long, and too much of it is about how the stalker is one step ahead of Sharon, which gets old quickly.
So, a good setup, but it overstays its welcome.
January 19, 2022
Wonderful entertaining mystery listening 🔰😀
Another will written thriller mystery adventure novel 18 in the Sharon McCone Mystery Series by Marcia Muller. Someone is pretending to be Sharon McCone all about San Francisco and Sharon is hot on the trail but just one step behind even at the very end. I would highly recommend this novel and series to readers of mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or 🎶 listening to 👍novels 🔰🏡😃👜 2022
Another will written thriller mystery adventure novel 18 in the Sharon McCone Mystery Series by Marcia Muller. Someone is pretending to be Sharon McCone all about San Francisco and Sharon is hot on the trail but just one step behind even at the very end. I would highly recommend this novel and series to readers of mysteries. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or 🎶 listening to 👍novels 🔰🏡😃👜 2022
November 10, 2018
The mysteries are very close to home in this one. Sharon must figure out who is impersonating her and besmirching her identity in the process while also determining what is going on with normally reliable and affable Ted. I enjoy the regular cast of characters in this series and this book gave an extra dose of them.
May 15, 2021
Muller is a good writer, Sharon McCone is a great character, and the premise of this installment is very intriguing: another woman is impersonating McCone and stealing her life, bit by bit. What is she up to? What does she want? Unfortunately, the answers ultimately are a bit disappointing, but the ride along the way (including some other subplots) is a fun one.
July 12, 2019
A little slow moving, and somewhat repetitive throughout with its story line. I did want to keep reading in order to figure out the motive behind the person who was tormenting McCone, but was somewhat disappointed with the reveal/overall ending.
October 27, 2019
This was the first Marcia Miller book I have ever read. I did enjoy it and gave it 4 stars but it was very obvious that this book was part of a series and I did feel that the book would have been more enjoyable for me if I had read previous books in the series.
February 17, 2020
Pure Muller
I enjoyed this book more than some others of Marcia Muller. My aging brain was able to follow the progression of characters better in this work. I like how really human and real her subjects are.
I enjoyed this book more than some others of Marcia Muller. My aging brain was able to follow the progression of characters better in this work. I like how really human and real her subjects are.
March 27, 2020
One in a series of Sharon McCone mysteries. This one is about someone stalking her, very good.
I enjoy these books because they are similar to Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky lady detectives. They are older so I can’t always find them to read in order.
I enjoy these books because they are similar to Sue Grafton and Sara Paretsky lady detectives. They are older so I can’t always find them to read in order.
May 3, 2020
Completed books 12-18 in this series. This last one was not a favorite. An identity crisis for Sharon McCone as a stalker was moving in on her life. Not as strong a story as the previous books. Did like books 12-17 much more.
February 16, 2017
Very entertaining. One of the best in this series.
August 7, 2017
This book held my attention so well it became a quick read.
September 8, 2018
Two mysteries in one book. Kick-ass lady PI.
April 23, 2019
Read 2009
January 31, 2021
It took me forever to read this book. I wanted to know “Why” but it wasn’t worth reading the whole book to almost find the answer
March 16, 2021
Written in 1998, but Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone books are so well written, tense, suspenseful,
and complicated that they are great reads.
and complicated that they are great reads.
July 15, 2021
This was my first McCone book. For some reason I never really cared about any of the characters. I
June 9, 2023
Ms. Muller needs a new editor, the grammer errors and spellings error abound.
July 23, 2024
Another good Sharon McCone mystery in which Sharon and her employees must investigate hate crimes and a stalker that are too close to home.
August 14, 2024
Really hard to put down. I don't why I stopped reading this series years ago --- I'm guessing I read all that the library had to offer.
December 21, 2025
Two nonrelated plots, one solved early on allowing the main plot to be solved.
December 5, 2019
I am not sure that I actually enjoyed the 'story'- some parts were interesting, however, it seemed to 'drag' a little bit. When a book really grabs me, it doesn't take me long to finish reading it and this one I could easily put down and return to a few days later. The one thing I did find interesting was the way the sections were set, not as chapters, but as days of the week. It begins with 'Wednesday night, and then moves to Thursday and so on. There were a lot of things happening in the story that I didn't think quite fit, and the protagonist at times and the situations were a tad bit unbelievable. The ending was disappointing on why 'the bad guy' was doing what she was doing- I know that is a bit vague but in case you want to read this book- I do not want to give you a spoiler.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews